Wayne Wright is the founder of one of the largest personal injury law firms in Texas with offices in San Antonio, Corpus Christi, El Paso, Austin and Houston. Mr. Wright is well-known as a philanthropist whose dedication to the community includes a focus on the needs of military service members.

Note: This is an mySA.com City Brights Blog. These blogs are not written or edited by mySA or the San Antonio Express-News. The authors are solely responsible for the content.

“Combat” deaths at home

Suicides and accidents are killing America’s young vets at unusually high rates. The question is why? There are clues but no definitive answers.

Last week, the Department of Veterans Affairs released a report that said the suicide rate among young veterans rose dramatically between 2009 and 2011. A report on www.stripes.com contained all the grim numbers. The article quotes a VA official who says those who seek mental health services from her agency have lower suicide rates than those who don’t.

But the accident rate among these young veterans is sky high too. On December 19, 2013, The Los Angeles Times carried an in-depth report profiling young vets who died violently after heavy drinking or drug use – one riding a motorcycle at more than 100 mph, one overdosing on heroin in a restaurant bathroom, another shooting himself in the head in front of a friend and another, Mark Tyree, who was electrocuted after he “slammed his truck into a power pole” at a high rate of speed. It was Tyree’s third high speed accident.

The LA Times article began with a short sentence that tells the whole story about young, suicidal vets. “Mark Tyree,” it said, “was chasing death.”

The latest source for statistics and theories about these young veteran death rates is the San Antonio Express News. A Sunday, January 12 article – “GIs’ suicides fall while vets rise”- has eye opening details that chronicle the shift in suicides from young active duty troops to young veterans.

The paper reports that active duty suicide rates are declining “as deployments fall and more prevention efforts take hold.” At the same time the suicide rate among young vets is rising. Military officials are examining a number of potential causes. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death among all young Americans. So some cultural factors could be playing a role in the suicide rate of young veterans.

Fear and shame about seeking mental health services could be a reason. Depression could play a role. The number of deployments could be a factor. As the Express News points out: “Over the past four years, Army figures show 611 of 819 active duty soldiers committing suicide had deployed from one to six times.” Is the number of deployments playing a role in the suicide rate among young veterans the way it did among active duty troops?

In the end, the bottom line points to a cost of war the government failed to adequately consider. According to the Pentagon, suicide “claimed more lives in the past 10 years then deaths from combat in Afghanistan.”